FBI: Fairview Heights Man Receives 35 Years in Prison for Production of Child Pornography

Springfield, IL-(ENEWSPF)- A Fairview Heights man, Andrew Gerald Millas, 43, received a 35 year prison sentence in federal court in East St Louis on January 14, 2013, following his plea of guilty to three counts of production of child pornography and one count of transportation of child pornography, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, Stephen R. Wigginton, announced January 14. Following service of his sentence, Millas will be on federal supervised release for the remainder of his life and will also be required to register as a sex offender.

“This sentence should be a stark, but fair, reminder to those who prey on children—the eyes of law enforcement will find you, and I will use every legal means to put you in prison,” said United States Attorney Wigginton.

A factual stipulation filed at the time of the guilty plea revealed that, in December 2011, detectives of the Boise, Idaho Police Department engaged Millas in online chats after they became concerned with his postings on a website that offered child pornography for distribution.

Millas sent the undercover officers still images of child pornography he had manufactured and also broadcast a live sex act with a minor to them via a web camera. The Boise Police Department quickly forwarded the investigative lead to the Fairview Heights Police Department, and Millas was promptly arrested. Forensic analysis of computer equipment seized from Millas by the FBI revealed voluminous digital evidence, including 14,560 multimedia files, over 900,000 image files, and 21,232 recovered image files depicting screen shots captured by a keystroke logger program. Among the files recovered were movies depicting Millas having sexual relations with a 16-year-old child and other movies, which Millas made through surreptitious filming which depicted other minors engaging in sexual conduct.

Millas has been in custody since his arrest on December 30, 2011. The investigation was conducted by the Boise, Idaho Police Department; the Fairview Heights Police Department; and the Collinsville Police Department, which has a detective assigned to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Cybercrime Task Force. This case is part of Project Safe Childhood, in which the United States Attorney’s Office, in conjunction with federal and state law enforcement authorities, is actively investigating and prosecuting individuals who are involved in the exploitation of children. The case was prosecuted by United States Attorney Stephen R. Wigginton and Assistant United States Attorney Suzanne M. Garrison.